College on the rocks

Study: Student drinking culture still one of 'excess'

Posted: Monday, March 25, 2002

By Joan Stroerjstroer@onlineathens.com

Years of education about the dangers of excessive drinking have failed to reduce levels of binge drinking among college students, according to a new Harvard University study that found rates of heavy drinking have remained the same for the past eight years.

Research released today found that 44 percent of college students were classified as binge drinkers in 2001, the same rate found in previous Harvard studies dating back to 1993. The drinking rate held steady, researchers said, as college students embraced substance-free housing, heard more about the dangers of binge drinking and joined fraternities and sororities at lower rates.

''The drinking style on campus is still one of excess,'' said Henry Wechsler, principal investigator of the study and a director at the Harvard School of Public Health. ''If you are a traditional college student and you drink, the odds are seven in 10 that you are a binge drinker.''

The survey includes responses from more than 10,000 full-time students at the same 119 colleges that participated in the national study in previous years. Researchers defined binge drinkers as men who had five or more -- or women who had four or more -- drinks in a row at least once during the two weeks before the survey.

''It seems that other powerful forces are driving the college binge drinking phenomenon,'' he said. ''Greater attention should be paid to factors that impact the environment around students, which aggressively promotes alcohol use.''

Among other findings, Harvard researchers found:

A rise in the numbers of binge drinkers at all-women's schools between 1993 and 2001. Rates rose from about 24 percent of respondents to 31 percent.

Students younger than 21 drank almost half the alcohol students reported consuming.

Colleges located in towns and states with key laws regulating underage drinking -- such as keg registration or prohibitions on pitcher sales -- had significantly less underage drinking and binge drinking.

Binge drinking was lower in controlled housing. Of students who live with their parents off campus, only 25 percent binge drink. Of students in substance-free dorms, only 36 percent do. However, half of students living off-campus without a parent binge drink and 51 percent of students living in non-restricted dorms reported binge drinking.

Almost three in four students living in a fraternity or sorority house binge drink.

The new results, published in the March issue of the Journal of American College Health, confirm earlier findings that underage students drink alcohol less frequently, but were more likely to drink to excess when they drank. However, researchers found that underage students are less likely to drink and drive than older students.

''It is possible that zero tolerance laws, which remove driving licenses from people under the minimum legal drinking age with a detectable blood alcohol content, are a strong deterrent,'' Wechsler said.